Lebanon received 369,916 tourists during the first half of 2002, a 3.4 percent increase compared to figures recorded from the same period last year. Some 93,743 tourists arrived in the Republic last month compared to 89,491 visitors in June 2001, reported the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism.

Tourists from Arab nations constituted 37.3 percent of Lebanon’s total visitors. Some 29 percent of the remaining amount haled from Europe, 15.4 percent from Asia, 13 percent from the Americas, 3.5 percent from Oceania and 2.2 percent from Africa.

Lebanon received approximately 850,000 tourists in 2001, a 20 percent increase in visitors compared to 2000. Lebanon’s tourism sector contributed to five percent of the country's GDP in 2000, compared to 22 percent before the civil war, which lasted between 1975 and 1990. Before the war, some 1.25 million tourists would visit Lebanon annually. — (menareport.com)